I know there is no direct answer to this, but just a ball park range would be nice. I was curious as to how much of a horsepower increase getting a chip will give me. One of my buddies is a mustang man and all of the guys he talks to say that their chips are only giving them one extra on the dyno. I found that hard to believe, but the guy showed him the dyno sheets and he wasn't lying. If it helps any, I have a 97 F150 4x4 extended cab with the 4.6. I'm just lining up the summer mods, here in Florida summer means money and money means truck toys. Oh yeah, I have true duals right now, and by the time I'd be considering the chip I'll have coldair and headers.

 

you should pic up around 26hp and 40 torque foot pounds.


Also, you will get increased shifting power. Your HP will no longer decrease during shift points with the chip, and the shift will be quicker. Thier should be quite a few threads in the computer chip section. Mike T will prolly reply also, wich will provide the most info for you.

 

The Superchips module is well worth it. My shifts are much firmer as well as an increased throttle response and pick-up. Plus, teh Superchip took off my top end speed limiter. If you are going to mod. out your 4.6, the Superchip is a must. I bought mine through Mike Troyer, and I am completely satisfied. Mike-- I'm into the idea of getting some electric fans next, so I'll be calling you after I install my JBA headers!!!

-Matt

 

The actual numbers we see on the dyno may seem small but for the money it's about what we should expect. You'll pay less for the modual but won't have the code reader that the Micro Tuner has.

Tuneing is the least invasive mod there is that provides actual gains. It is a must to reap the potential of other mods. I would highly reccomend a Superchips flip chip or modual.

 

Hi 97 Ford 4X4,

We're heard that kind of scenario before over the years, and it's very easy to dispell...............

Chips (actually, tuning changes) for these vehicles (and most other computer controlled vehicles) simply are not something you can do back to back dyno testing on and get accurate final power numbers. Anyone that knows much of anything about how these PCM's work & respond to tuning changes *knows* that, as that is among the most very basic of issues with tuning changes in computer controlled vehicles.

It takes 350-500 miles, a number of drive cycles and several tanks of gas to get all the 87 octane gas out of there, but far more importantly, for the PCM to adapt to it's new programming and can make the full power gain. However, even in an *immediate* back-to-back test, a 1 hp gain scenario isn't ever going to be even close to accurate, and has not *ever* happened in any of our testing, for over a decade.

Anyone wanting to prove that point can simply take any automatic or manual-transmission F-150 and do before & after properly controlled acceleration time testing with the Superchip, and they will see immediate reductions in acceleration times with the Superchip installed (assuming they can drive & shift consistently in a manual), (and I mean right away, before accumulating miles, etc. That cannot be achieved by a 1 hp or 4 hp gain. But of course, every time you see these kinds of dyno charts presented, there isn't any timed acceleration testing done to see just what kind of actual performance change there was, how the 0-60 times changed, or the 1/4 mile times or trap speed, etc. Because anytime that *is* done, the numbers quickly show reductions in acceleration times that cannot ever be achieved with single0digit power gains, & there goes that whole theory out the window immediately.

We don't drive dyno's, we drive *vehicles,* and only by testing the actual *performance* of the vehicle will you how well the part you installed helped it's performance.

Far too many people think of "dynos" as some mythically accurate device that always gives exact and correct power levels, when the real fact is they are only an estimate of approximate power level, at best, and one that is easily manipulated, either deliberately or unintentionally.

By the way, I would *never* assume that this friend of yours is lying, I don't doubt he's shown you such dyno charts at all, this isn't' the first time someone has made this claim, not by a long shot. But it means absolutely nothing. It's very obvious that *something* is wrong, the most obvious of which is trying to do back-to-back dyno testing with this kind of part, you can't do that with any kind of accurate portrayal of the end result from tuning changes. That is precisely why we do not only dyno testing (which we really only care about as a platform upon which to get a good Air/Fuel ratio plot & make sure there are no obvious holes in the power curves), but also street and race track testing, so we *know* what they're doing.

You can take 5 different dynos of the exact same model, from the same manufacturer and even made on the same darned day, run by the exact same operator using the same method, with the exact same vehicle, and you'll get 5 difference power readings. Heck, I can make a chassis dyno say just about anything I want it to, it's easy for a semi-experienced operator to do that. And, it can (and does, frequently) happen unintentionally as well.

It's very simple: the way you find out just exactly how much any part helped you is you do properly controlled before & after timed acceleration testing. And doing that will show *immediate* and significant reductions in acceleration times, plain and simple. Not 1 person doing that accurately has ever seen anything other than reductions in 0-60, 1/4 mile times and trap speeds, top speed, etc. from the Superchip. Performance is improved *everywhere*, at any rpm, and at any throttle position with the Superchips tuning.

I'd spend some time looking at what the people who actually spent their money on that part have had to say about it right here on these message boards, as there are *years* of reports here from people who spent their hard-earned money to buy the product and then quantify their results, 0-60's, 1/4 mile times & trap speeds, etc. and they show clear and significant improvement in acceleration times, regardless of vehicle configuration. V6, V8, automatic, manual, it doesn't matter, they all improve significantly with the Superchip, none of which could ever be accomplished with a 1 hp gain. Going back to read that info, you'll see that over 98 out of every 100 people using the product are delighted, and *rave* about it, just as some are already doing in this thread. We supply everybody from the typical daily driver all the way to NASCAR Winston Cup engine builders with tuning for their computer controlled vehicles, and our customer satisfaction rate is the highest in the industry. That says it all.

There is only 1 way you are really going to know exactly what the Superchip does for these vehicles, and that is to use it, and do properly controlled before & after timed acceleration testing, with and without the Superchip. We use a 3-run format and do it within a 90 minute time period so as to keep atmospheric changes to a minimum for best accuracy & consistency.

In terms of how much power you will gain with the Superchip, that will indeed vary (any part will, it's physics), it will depend on how many miles that vehicle has on it, what kind of shape it's in (especially the ignition system, O2 sensors & other components in a 6-year old 4.6), local fuel quality, altitude & all the atmospheric data. The maximum potential power gain on the 4.6 is 26 hp & 40 lbs./ft. of torque, SAE Net at the flywheel. Some trucks will gain 18 hp, some will gain 23 hp, and so on. In round numbers, you're going to get roughly about 10% more power over whatever you're making now, barring mechanical problems or a lack of maintenance, etc.

One of the respondents to this thread, "wittom," has been with us at the last 2 National Rallys we've held, and has done drag strip testing with our tuning. His truck is supercharged, we sent him a Magnacharger some time back which he installed, and we provided the tuning for it as well. Just changing him over from his conservative program to his full power program in his 2-program Superchip Flip Chip dropped his 1/4 mile ET's by *way* over a half-second, which takes, at his vehicle's weight, an easy 30 hp gain. And that's just the difference between the 2 performance programs Side 1 & Side 2. The gain on his full performance program over the power he makes on the stock factory program with that blower is even more. You couldn't ask for a clearer demonstration of sheer raw power gain than what we did at the drag strip that day with wittom's truck!

Another member here, Neal, has done many tests with his Superchip, and it dropped his 1/4 mile ET's by .63 seconds in a 4600 lb. truck, a '99 5.4 2WD with no supercharger, no ported heads, completely stock short block, etc. Do the math & you'll quickly find out that isn't remotely possible with anything like a 1 hp gain, or with a 5 hp gain, or with an 8 hp gain, etc.

And there are many, many others who have done properly controlled acceleration testing to quantify the actual performance improvement from the Superchip. Simply put, the Superchip is the single best bang for the buck modification you can make to that vehicle, as nothing else for it's cost or less will reduce acceleration times by as much. In general, optimizing the powertrain programming in any computer controlled vehicle is almost always the single best bang for the buck performance improvement.

We understand your concerns of course, & thanks for your post. If you'd like to go over this in more detail, please feel free to give us a call.

 

I'll give you a real world example of what a chip and few other mods did for me.

I have a 1997 F150 Supercab Longbed with the 4.6. A fellow that works for me is a proud Dodge driver. He has a Dodge Ram with the 5 something or other big motor. (sorry, I don't know much about Dodges, and don't want to...LOL.) It is the short bed regular cab.
He took great pleasure in whipping me for 2 darned years in that truck.

My first 2 mods where a cold air intake and a Superchip tuned by Mike Troyer. I also had upgrade my ignition to new coil packs and plugs and wires from Mike.

After giving my computer some learning time and not saying a word about modding my truck, I managed to tease him into racing again. I spanked him like the bitch that he was...LOL. I had to ease up on the gas to get my wheels to stop spinning and the only time that happened before was on wet streets.

I don't have a clue what my truck dynoes at and really don't need to know. But I do know that the chip made a big difference in my real life speed.


Rocks